The heart-stopping moment during the CNN Arizona Republican debate came when a
citizen named T’sah posed a simple, online question:

“Since birth
control is the latest hot topic, which candidate believes in birth control, and
if not, why?”

The Mesa audience booed loudly. (It was a stark reminder of the gay
soldier question.) You could watch each of the candidates squirming like
schoolboys.

The two Catholics and the Mormon looked like they were about to get
rapped on the knuckles with a ruler. Ron Paul – turtle-like – seemed to try to
duck down into his suit, but for once it fit well enough to offer little
protection. It seemed clear that each knew the power of The Pill.

In case you’re too young to remember, it was 1981 when the nation’s most
famous House Speaker, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, first called Social Security
reform “the third rail of American Politics.” It was an apt metaphor referring
to the high-voltage rail for electric trains and subways. Anyone touching this
rail was instantly electrocuted. Barry Goldwater had suffered this metaphorical
fate after he opposed Social Security during his disastrous 1964 presidential
run.

Back in the present, Gingrich was the first to duck the query, predictably
attacking the question and the media by claiming that no one had asked Barack
Obama why he was a baby killer. This, Gingrich implied, was summary judgment of
the illegitimacy of this question. And then – just as predictably
– he presented his “so there!” pout rather than answer. With it, he greased
the panel’s pivot away from the question and toward their views of “religious
freedom.”

Revealingly though, Gingrich had spoken the phrase, “If you want to have a
debate on who the extremist is …,” telegraphing the true fear of these candidates.
That wasn’t part of the question. But they are all aware – except for Crazy Rick
Santorum maybe – of how much the party risks losing the election from extremist
views. This year, any debate on who the true extremist is – on most any subject
– favors the incumbent, President Obama. Today, Republican George Pataki voiced
his agreement – it was a good night for Obama, he admitted.

Essentially, they all believe that any bishop can prevent any woman from
having access to birth control based simply on his (presumably celibate)
conscience. It’s an interesting notion completely at odds with the individual
rights granted by the First Amendment. We’ve
already debunked the belief that our Constitution confers rights on churches
rather than citizens. It doesn’t. The government can’t make bishops
take birth control – that is the limit of their religious rights.

Mitt Romney (who otherwise won the debate) mused “We wondered why in the
world is birth control …” before attempting to draw a conspiracy between a
previous debate moderator, George Stephanopoulos, and some sort of shadowy
attempt to terminate religious rights – using birth control as a ruse.
Stephanopoulos, of course, served in the Clinton administration and now works
for a network, so it would only be obvious to conclude that he’s in league with
both the White House and the Devil.

This brings us to Rick Santorum. Santorum is arguably the guy who caused this
firestorm, what with his campaign to put Sharia cough Biblical law
over the Constitution. Moderator John King noted that Santorum had been saying he bravely talks about what "no president has talked about before – the
dangers of contraception."

To Santorum, the dangers of contraception are “fractured” families and
out-of-wedlock births – two societal problems that seem, to most people, like
they only can be improved by universal access to birth control.

It often seems like many of these guys haven’t checked a fact (or visited a
poor neighborhood, for that matter) since the 1980s. On-purpose,
out-of-wedlock births have increased as more and more couples shun legal
marriage, but accidental birth rates are falling. Teen
pregnancies peaked 21 years ago and have been dropping ever since. They are
enough of a curiosity to have a “reality” show on MTV. Teenage abortions are at
the lowest rate since abortion became legal – one fourth of what they were in
1986. Why it’s enough to make you support birth control isn’t it?

Of all the candidates, it would be most important for Santorum to give a
clear and cogent answer to the question. But after telegraphing he arrived at
his views based on outdated statistics, he devolved into his latest shtick: Just because I believe something doesn’t mean I’m going to make you do
it. Does anyone really trust him on that?

Ron Paul urged us not to blame the chemical for the bad acts of people. It
was probably an honest argument if the issue were arson or murder, but seemed an
odd response for a gynecologist who was discussing family planning. Does he
think birth control is irresponsible? Like all the others, his actual
views remained under wraps.

One thing is clear as a bell, though: Each of these guys is deathly afraid of
saying whether or not he believes in birth control. That kind of sheer cowardice
is unworthy of the office they seek.

Jimmy Zuma splits his time between Washington, D.C. and Tucson. He writes the online opinion journal, Smart v. Stupid. He spent 5 years in Tucson in the early ‘80s, when life was a little slower, swamp coolers were a little more plentiful, Tucson’s legendary music scene was in full bloom, and the prevailing work ethic was “don’t - unless you have to.”

More by Jimmy Zuma

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